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Just when I thought my life was over, I found a whole new beginning, maybe your ending is really a brand new start. ~ Justin

Recently Justin Wiseman joined the ladies on The View where he finally got to hug Rosie O’Donnell. After exchanging messages on Twitter about their mutual weight loss struggles, the two bonded. Justin credits Rosie with inspiring him to lose weight. Now he’s paying it forward by tackling the childhood obesity epidemic.

More from Justin and his amazing 420 pound weight story in his own words -

Tell me when your weight struggles began. My struggles began well before I was consciously aware of what I was doing. By the age of five I weighed 100 pounds.

What habits specifically led you to gain weight? I was a food addict pure and simple. Food was my whole world. Every time I ate, I ate to the point of being Thanksgiving-stuffed. That feeling was my high, my pure bliss.

What caused you to realize you needed to change? I had a gut feeling I was going to die soon, which was confirmed by a doctor. I had uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, my sugar was running in the 500s every day. It was so high that sugar was crystallizing on my skin. I had non-obstructive sleep apnea, the weight on my chest was causing me to stop breathing over 200 times a night and my oxygen was dropping below 60. I had high blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, and was even suffering from cirrhosis of the liver. The cirrhosis was causing me to retain massive amounts of fluid.

How did you lose the weight? I looked into weight loss surgery, but at first I was too unhealthy to qualify. I started slowly by making healthier choices and following a lower carb diet. I ate a KFC grilled chicken almost every day. Over 6 months I lost 130 pounds. Following that initial weight loss, I had gastric sleeve surgery to reduce the size of my football-sized stomach. After that I followed the Atkins Diet.

What diet and exercise methods did you employ? At first I couldn’t do much. I could barely get up and down. The very first exercise I did was to dance in my living while Ellen was dancing on her talk show. Slowly I was able to do more.

Did you have any “ah ha” moments along the way? Yes, the first of many was when I started planning my own funeral because I didn’t think I could do lose the weight. The are so many people around the world who are given a death sentence and would do anything to live, but here I was willing dying. How selfish. I also realized how much life I had missed out on and how much I wanted one day of complete freedom before I died.

The season premiere of The Biggest Loser is still 71 long days away but NBC is already announcing big changes for the 16th year. This year, Jillian fans will mourn her departure as two new J-name trainers take center stage.

Why, Jillian? Why?

On June 25, NBC announced the news of Jillian’s departure saying, “The Biggest Loser and Jillian Michaels have decided to part ways and she will not be returning for season 16 when it airs in the fall.”

This will be Jillian’s third exit from the popular weight loss program.

In Jillian’s absence, NBC will have big shoes to fill, and evidently it takes two new coaches to do it. With the addition of Jessie Pavelka and Jennifer Widestrom, the coach tally climbs to four. Dolvett Quince, Bob Harper, and host Alison Sweeney have all signed on for season 16.

This will be just the second time in BL history that four coaches have been available to help contestants. Read Full Post >

How far we have come, my fellow Dancing With the Stars fans. Right? Last night was the premiere of Season 18 of the popular dance show, and I can hardly believe it! Here’s a short summary of all that happened, in case you missed it:

Last night, we met the couples. If you haven’t seen the show previously, the professional dancers (who are actually celebrities themselves, at this point) are paired with an actor, actress, athlete, Olympian, orscientist, in this season’s case, then dance for votes each week. Read Full Post >

Last night the Biggest Loser contestants took a field trip to the USOlympic training site in Park City, Utah. During their visit they worked out in the Olympic Village, received a pep talk from 8-time medalist, Apolo Ohno, played a high-stakes game of curling and ran a foot-race around the bobsled track that solidified to everyone, Rachel is in-it-to-friggin-win-it, so watch out.

In the end, even though he’s already lost an impressive 104 pounds on the show, the remaining contestants chose to oust Gentleman Jay and his signature black cowboy hat from the village.

Today we talked to Jay about his tremendous weight loss, his plans for the finale, and whether he thought Bobby’s cry for help was genuine, or a clever ploy to stay on the show.

DIR: You looked great when you left the Olympic Village last night. Since returning home, what have you done to maintain your weight loss?

JAY: You know, really it’s just been the fact that I’m back to the everyday grind. Life with work and the kids. Getting kids ready for school, then working and running them around to all their activities, it’s a time management thing because I don’t get to work out for 6-8 hours a day like I could on the ranch. Right now I exercise before work and then again in the evening.

DIR:Do you think Bobby’s speech was genuine or was there a little bit of manipulative game-play involved?

JAY: Oh, there was definitely a little bit of game-play involved but hey, that’s part of the game. I knew when I hit my goal weight that my time would be coming but I think it was kind of a dumb move for the contestants to vote me off. I didn’t have enough weight to lose to be the Biggest Loser winner. In that way, Bobby is the bigger threat.

Last night, The Biggest Loser returned from a long holiday break. We noticed Bob is still proudly sporting his porn ‘stache, and we finally learned which contestant earned a spot back on the ranch – Bobby! Unfortunately, the dreaded yellow line also appeared for the first time this season, pitting Tonya against Tumi. Ultimately, the players decided it was Tumi Oguntala’s time to leave.

How did she feel about her former teammates voting her out, and how is she getting ready for the upcoming Biggest Loser finale? We spoke with Tumi this afternoon and asked a few questions about her departure.

DIR: How Did you feel about the yellow line coming in to play, pitting you against Tanya, and your former teammates’ decision to vote you off?

Tumi: “Well - pause – to be honest, I was hoping for a little team solidarity. I’m disappointed but there are no hard feelings. Let’s just say, what happens on the ranch stays on the ranch.” Read Full Post >

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